Date Established:

August 30, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 28, 1861

Location:

Boundaries:

The statute creating Arapahoe County fixed its boundaries as follows: Beginning at the northeast corner of New Mexico, running thence north to the south line of Nebraska and north line of Kansas; thence along said line to the east line of Utah territory; thence along said line between Utah and Kansas territories, to where said line strikes New Mexico; thence along the line between said New Mexico and the territory of Kansas to the place of beginning.

County Seat:

Mountain City

Origin of Name:

Named for the Arapahoe Indian tribe, who dwelt on the plains between Wyoming and Texas.

History:

This county comprised land west of the present Kansas/Colorado border to the crest of the Rocky Mountains. A large swath of unorganized territory separated it from the westernmost tier of organized counties in present-day Kansas.

By the act of creation, Allen P. Tibbetts was appointed judge of the probate court, the plan for holding court being left to his discretion, and he, Levi Mitchell, and Jonathan Atwood were appointed commissioners to locate the county seat, to be known as Mountain City. Arapahoe County was attached to Marshall County for all business purposes.

Arapahoe County was never organized. In early 1859 it was split into six counties (Arapahoe, Broderick, El Paso, Fremont, Montana, and Oro). When Colorado Territory was established Feb. 28, 1861, the new Colorado legislature created seventeen counties, which are considered the original counties of the state. Arapahoe County is still extant, but today is a relatively small county (12 miles north-south, 72 miles east-west), with its western end in the Denver metropolitan area.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

Location:

Boundaries:

Defined by the creating statute as "Commencing at the intersection of the east line of range 31, west, with the north line of township 27, south; thence south along the range line to where it intersects the sixth standard parallel; thence west along the sixth standard parallel to the intersection with the east line of range 35, west; thence north along the range line to where it intersects the north line of township 27, south; thence east to the place of beginning."

Origin of Name:

Named for the Arapahoe Indian tribe, who dwelt on the plains between Wyoming and Texas.

History:

In 1883, Arapahoe was merged into an expanded Finney County; in 1887, when Finney was broken up, that part which had been Arapahoe was created as Haskell County. The county was never organized, and no county seat is known to have existed.

Population:

Date Established:

March 20, 1873

Date Organized:

March 20, 1873

Date Defunct:

February 25, 1874

Location:

Origin of Name:

The 1873 legislature, the first in which Norton County had a representative, changed the name from Norton to Billings as a joke and/or to please the overweening vanity of N. H. Billings, county attorney, superintendent of schools, and state representative. The following year, when Mr. Billings was no longer the county's representative, the legislature changed the name back to Norton County.

History:

Billings County, during its brief history of less than one year, operated as an organized county because Norton County was organized on 22 Aug 1872 by the proclamation of Governor James Madison Harvey. Billings did not, however, have a county seat during its period of existence. The town of Norton was elected the county seat in 1874, following the reinstatement of the name of Norton County.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

August 25, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 05, 1862

Location:

County Seat:

Emporia

Origin of Name:

In honor of John C. Breckinridge (1821-1875), congressman from Kentucky and subsequently vice-president of the United States under James Buchanan from 1857 to 1861. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1860, he was expelled the following year for supporting the rebellion; he served as a major-general in the Confederate Army and briefly as the southern Secretary of War. Breckinridge County was renamed Lyon County due to Breckinridge's political sympathies.

History:

The Territorial Legislature of 1855 organized Breckinridge County, attaching it to Madison County for civil, criminal, and military purposes. Agnes City was the first county seat. It was during 1858-59 that the bitterest fight occurred between Americus and Emporia over the location of the county seat; Americus won by a total of 14 votes.

Although a courthouse was not erected in Americus, it continued to be regarded as the county seat up until the general election of 1860. Emporia received 384 votes for the honor, Americus 141, Fremont 73, Breckinridge Center 14, and Forest Hill 1. This election decided the matter.

The first school in the county was opened by Rev. G. W. Torrence in the summer of 1858. In October of that year, Miss Mary Jane Watson opened a free school in Emporia.

In 1861, Madison County was abolished, and its northern part was given to Breckinridge.

Population:

Date Established:

March 20, 1873

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

March 13, 1881

Location:

Boundaries:

"Commencing where the north line of township 20 south intersects the line of range 27 west, thence south along range line to its intersection with the north line of township 24 south; thence west along township line to where it intersects the east line of range 31 west; thence north along range line to where it intersects the north line of township 20 south; thence east to the place of beginning."

Origin of Name:

Named for the American bison, the largest mammal native to North America, which roamed in vast herds through the region.

History:

In 1881, the northern tier of townships was removed from Buffalo County and added to Lane; the remainder was made part of newly-created Gray County, and later was taken to form part of Finney County. Buffalo County was never organized.

Population:

Date Established:

August 25, 1855

Date Organized:

September 24, 1855

Date Defunct:

February 11, 1859

Location:

Boundaries:

Originally the county comprised approximately 1,140 square miles north of the Kansas River, with Riley County on the west, Nemaha and Brown on the north, and Jefferson and Atchison on the east. In 1857, the western boundary was moved eleven miles east, placing it between the first and second tiers of sections in Range 12 East. In the same year, a strip of land one mile wide and ten miles long was detached from Jefferson County and added to Calhoun.

County Seat:

Holton

Origin of Name:

Most probably named in honor of John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), statesman, U.S. senator from South Carolina, and vice-president of the United States. It may, however, have been named for John Calhoun (1806-1859), the first surveyor-general of Kansas and Nebraska and ex-officio registrar of the land offices therein (appointed 1854), who was a proponent of slavery in Kansas Territory and a member of the Lecompton constitutional convention.

History:

The location of the town of Calhoun was in the extreme southeast corner of the county. The county was formally organized by its commissioners: William Alley, Richard D. Beeler, and James Kuykendall.

Their first official act was an order naming the voting places for the election of a delegate to Congress; the second was a resolution to build a courthouse in the town of Calhoun "out of brick." That resolution was rescinded on 19 May 1856. Instead, a small frame structure was constructed that year out of native logs, standing two stories high at a cost of $2500.

James Kuykendall, perhaps the most influential man in the history of Calhoun County, came from Platte County, Missouri, where he had held the office of sheriff for four years. In Calhoun County, he was probate judge, chairman of the county commissioners, registrar of deeds, and prosecuting attorney. After the Free Soil party gained control over county politics, his name was soon forgotten.

On 11 October 1858, an election was held to permanently locate a county seat. The selection of Holton signaled the end of the town of Calhoun's prosperity. By the time the 1859 Legislature changed the county name to Jackson, the town of Calhoun had lost its postoffice, and it soon faded into oblivion.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

August 25, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

March 07, 1889

Location:

County Seat:

Junction City

Origin of Name:

Named for Jefferson Davis (1808-1889), at the time the U.S. Secretary of War, and later president of the Confederacy.

History:

Davis was one of the original 33 counties created by the first territorial legislature. It lost territory to Dickinson County in 1857 and to Wabaunsee County in 1860; it gained territory from Dickinson in 1860 and from Riley in 1873. The name was changed in 1889 to Geary; an 1893 attempt to change it back was unsuccessful.

The first Europeans to visit Davis County were Coronado and his expedition, searching for Quivira in 1541. The Bourgmont expedition of 1724 probably traveled along the south bank of the Kansas River through what became Davis County. Fort Riley was established by the U.S. Army in 1852; the first post office in the county was established at the fort in 1855.

Population:

Date Established:

August 25, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

June 03, 1861

Location:

Origin of Name:

In honor of either (1) Earl Van Dorn (1820-1863), an army officer during the Mexican War and Indian campaigns, or, more likely, (2) Andrew Jackson Dorn (1815-1889), also a Mexican War veteran and Indian agent for the Osages, Quapaws, and Senecas and Shawnees at the Neosho Agency from 1853 to 1861. Both men joined the Confederate Army in 1861, and the county was renamed Neosho.

History:

The county was never organized.

Population:

Date Established:

March 20, 1873

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

March 13, 1881

Location:

Boundaries:

"Commencing at the intersection of the east line of range 27 west, with the north line of township 24 south; thence south along the range line to its intersection with the north line of township 29 south; thence west along township line to where it intersects the east line of range 31 west; thence north along range line to its intersection with the north line of township 24 south; thence east to the place of beginning."

Origin of Name:

Probably named for American naval officer Andrew Hull Foote (1806-1863), called 'the gunboat commodore.' Commander of a flotilla of ironclads, he worked closely with Gen. Grant to take Confederate positions along the Mississippi River, including Forts Henry and Donelson.

History:

Foote County was never organized; in 1881 it was attached to Ford and Finney counties for judicial purposes. Another act of the same session changed the name to Gray.

Population:

Date Established:

March 23, 1887

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

March 18, 1893

Location:

Boundaries:

"Commencing where the north line of township 21 south intersects the east line of range 27 west; thence south along the range line to its intersectoin with the north line of township 24 south; thense west along the township line to where it intersects the east line of range 31 west; thence north along the range line to where it intersects the north line of township 21 south, thence east to the place of beginning."

County Seat:

Ravanna/Eminence

Origin of Name:

In honor of James Abram Garfield (1831-1881), the twentieth president of the United States, who was fatally wounded by an assassin four months after taking office.

History:

Garfield County substantially comprised the territory that had been Buffalo County. It was created by taking six congressional townships from Finney County and six from Hodgeman.

The communities of Ravanna and Eminence were bitter rivals for the position of county seat. Bat Masterson and twenty deputies from Dodge City were hired to keep the peace during the first election in 1887, in which Ravanna won the honor by thirty-five votes. However, the citizens of Eminence brough suit, alleging the ballot-box had been stuffed. The Kansas Supreme Court agreed, and in 1889 the seat was transferred to Eminence.

In 1892, the Kansas Supreme Court decided Garfield County was illegally organized, having less than the 432 square miles required by the state constitution; it was annexed to Finney County the following year.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

August 30, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

June 03, 1861

Location:

Boundaries:

"Beginning at the southeast corner of Greenwood county; thence south to the southern boundary of the territory; thence west 24 miles; thence north to the southwest corner of Greenwood; thence east 24 miles to the place of beginning."

Origin of Name:

Possibly named for Bill Godfrey, a trader among the Osages in the Neosho Valley during the early to mid-1850s, or Gabriel Godfrey, a subagent to the Pottawatomie tribe in the 1820s. In some sources, the county name is spelled 'Godfroy,' but this is apparently a misprint.

History:

One of the original 33 counties created by the first territorial legislature, Godfrey County was attached to Allen County for civil and military purposes and was never organized. In 1861, the name was changed to Seward County; later it became Howard County, and is today mostly in Elk and Chautauqua counties.

Population:

Date Established:

February 26, 1867

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

March 25, 1875

Location:

Boundaries:

The county was 42 miles north to south and 31 miles east to west along the southern boundary of the state, bounded by Greenwood County on the north, Montgomery and Wilson counties to the east, and Butler and Cowley counties to the west.

Origin of Name:

Named for Gen. Oliver Otis Howard (1830-1909), a career army officer who commanded Union forces at the first and second battles of Bull Run and at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. After the war, he served as head of the Freedman's Bureau, and was later in the Indian campaigns. Howard was a moral crusader, insisting his troops attend prayer and temperance meetings, and he championed the freedom and equality of former slaves, helping to found what became Howard University in Washington, D.C.

History:

Howard County was composed of lands acquired from the Great and Little Osage Indians by the U.S. government via treaty in the late 1860s.

Howard County was first established as Godfrey County, and in 1861 became Seward County. Howard County was established on 26 Feb 1867. A long-running dispute over the location of the county seat between Elk Falls, Howard City, Boston, Peru, and Langdon resulted in the use of the Kansas militia to keep the peace. In 1875, Howard County was divided lengthwise into Elk and Chautauqua counties, primarily to settle the county seat feud.

Population:

Date Established:

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 24, 1864

Location:

Boundaries:

The boundaries of Hunter County were created as: "Beginning at the southeast corner of Butler County; thence south to the southern boundary of the territory; then west 30 miles; thence north to a point west of the point of beginning; then 30 miles to the place of beginning." The new county was thus thirty miles east to west and about seventy-eight miles north to south.

Origin of Name:

Probably named for Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (1809-1887), a Virginia congressman and senator, who favored the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution. He was expelled from the Senate in 1861 for supporting the rebellion, and he served in the Confederate Senate and as Confederate Secretary of State.

History:

Hunter was one of the original 33 counties created by the first territorial legislature in 1855. In 1860, Irving County was created out of the northern part of Hunter. The county was never organized, and In 1864 it was annexed into Butler County. The greater portion of what was Hunter County is now included in Cowley County, with the remainder scattered among Sedgwick, Sumner, Butler, Elk, Chautauqua, and Greenwood counties.

Population:

Date Established:

February 27, 1860

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 24, 1864

Location:

Boundaries:

The original statute specified the boundaries as: "Commencing at the point where the guide meridian crosses the 5th standard parallel, between ranges 8 and 9; thence due west 36 miles; thence due south 24 miles; thence due east to a point due south of the first named point; thence north to the place of beginning." This territory now comprises the southern part of Butle, the northern tier of Cowley, the southwest corner of Greenwood, and the northwest corner of Elk counties.

Origin of Name:

In honor of Washington Irving (1783-1859), author, essayist, biographer, and poet. Perhaps best known for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," Irving was the first American author to achieve international fame.

History:

Irving County was never organized, and it was annexed into Butler County in 1864. Its territory now embraces the southern part of Butler, the northern tier of Cowley, part of the southwest corner of Greenwood, and the northwest corner of Elk County.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

August 25, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

June 03, 1861

Location:

County Seat:

Paola

Origin of Name:

For David Lykins, a Baptist missionary to the Confederated Tribes (Weas, Piankeshaws, Peorias, and Kaskaskias), whose mission was located just east of the modern city of Paola. Lykins was a pro-slavery member of the territorial council. After the Free State forces came to political ascendancy, Lykins left the state and his namesake county was renamed Miami.

Population:

Date Established:

August 25, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

January 31, 1861

Location:

Boundaries:

"Beginning at the southwest corner of the county of Breckenridge; thence south 24 miles; thence west 24 miles; thence north 24 miles; thence east 24 miles to the place of beginning."

County Seat:

Columbia

Origin of Name:

Probably named for James Madison (1751-1836), the fourth president of the United States.

History:

The county seat of Madison County was Columbia, situated one and half miles southeast of Emporia. The county was divided in 1861; the northern half becoming part of Breckenridge (now Lyon) County and the southern half going to Greenwood County.

Population:

Date Established:

August 25, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 18, 1860

Location:

Boundaries:

The original statute bounded McGee as follows: "Beginning at the southeast corner of Bourbon County; thence south to the southern boundary of the territory; thence west on said boundary 24 miles; thence north to a point due west of the place of beginning; thence east 24 miles to the place of beginning." McGee comprised what are now Crawford and Cherokee counties.

Origin of Name:

Named for Mabillon W. McGee (born 1818), a member of the Kansas house of representatives in 1855. As he was a pro-slavery man, the free-state legislature of 1860 changed the name to Cherokee.

History:

McGee County was one of the original 33 counties created by the first territorial legislature in 1855. The county was attached to Bourbon County for all civil and military purposes, and was never organized.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

February 17, 1860

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 24, 1864

Location:

Boundaries:

Otoe County embraced townships 21, 22, 23, and the northern 2/3 of 24 in ranges 1 through 4 east of the sixth principal meridian. The boundaries were defined in the creating statute as: "Commencing at the northwest corner of Butler County; thence west to the 6th principal meridian; thence to a point 4 miles south of the 5th standard parallel, on the north line of the Osage reservation; thence east to a point due south of the southwest corner of Butler County; thence north to the place of beginning."

Origin of Name:

Named for the Otoe [Oto] Indian tribe of Nebraska. The tribal name is derived from 'wat-ota,' meaning 'seekers of pleasure' or 'lechers,' a name given them when they separated from their kindred tribes, the Iowa and Missouri.

History:

Apparently never organized. In 1864, the boundaries of Butler County were enlarged to include Otoe County. Most of the territory once comprising Otoe is included in the present county of Butler, with the remainder in the eastern parts of Harvey and Sedgwick counties.

Population:

Date Established:

February 21, 1860

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 26, 1867

Location:

Boundaries:

Peketon included all territory west of the 6th principal meridian, and south of township 16 south, more than one-quarter of the state. The northeast corner was at the southwest corner of Dickinson County; from which point the northern boundary of Peketon ran west past what is now the Kansas/Colorado state line into southeastern Colorado, and the eastern boundary went south to the border of Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma).

County Seat:

Beach Valley

Origin of Name:

Possibly from a Sac Indian word meaning flat land, but no definitive explanation has ever been found.

History:

Peketon County was never organized, and its territory became a part of Marion County in 1867.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

August 25, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 11, 1859

Location:

Boundaries:

"Beginning at the southwest corner of Shawnee County; thence west 24 miles; thence north to the main channel of the Kaw or Kansas river; thence down said channel to the northwest corner of Shawnee County; thence south to the place of beginning."

Origin of Name:

Named for William P. Richardson, a pro-slavery member of the territorial council in 1855 and 1857.

History:

Richardson was one of the original 33 counties created by the first territorial legislature. In 1859, what had been Richardson County became a part of Wabaunsee County.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

March 20, 1873

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 22, 1883

Location:

Boundaries:

The county was composed of townships 21 through 26 south and ranges 31 through 34 west, which made it twenty-four miles east to west and thirty-six miles north and south. The creating statute gave the boundaries as: "Commencing at the intersection of the east line of range 31 west with the 4th standard parallel; thence south along range line to the intersection with the north line of township 27 south; thence west along township lie to where it intersect the east line of range 35 west; thence north along range line to where it intersects the 4th standard parallel; thence east to the place of beginning."

Origin of Name:

In honor of the Cherokee Indian leader Sequoyah (1776-1843), the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet.

History:

Sequoyah County was absorbed by Finney County in 1883.

Population:

Date Established:

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

Location:

Origin of Name:

Most likely named for William H. Seward (1801-1872), senator from New York and a leader of the anti-slavery wing of the Whig Party. Joining the Republican Party in 1855, he served as Secretary of State under Lincoln and Johnson, and arranged to purchase Alaska ("Seward's Folly") from Russia.

History:

Created out of Godfrey County in about 1861, and became defunct with the establishment of Howard County in 1867.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

February 27, 1860

Date Organized:

September 06, 1866

Date Defunct:

May 27, 1867

Location:

Boundaries:

Composed of townships 5, 6, 7, 8 and south in ranges 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 west of the 6th principal meridian

County Seat:

Elk Creek

Origin of Name:

The county was most likely named for William Shirley, governor of Massachusetts Colony from 1741 to 1756. Andreas's History of Kansas, however, asserts it was as a joke named for Jane Shirley, a lady of questionable character in the Leavenworth area. By request of the first representative, J.B. Rupe, the name was changed in 1867 to Cloud County.

History:

Shirley County was attached to Marshall County for judicial purposes prior to its organization.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

March 13, 1881

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 25, 1887

Location:

Origin of Name:

In honor of John P. St. John (1833-1916), governor of Kansas from 1879 to 1883.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

August 30, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 20, 1857

Location:

Boundaries:

"Commencing at the southern boundary of the territory of Kansas, 15 miles west of a due south course from the mouth of Walnut creek, on the Arkansas river, and running from thence north 100 miles, thence west to the east line of Arapahoe county, thence south along said line to the place of beginning."

Origin of Name:

In honor of George Washington (1732-1799), first president of the United States.

History:

The legislative Act of 1855 originally created this old Washington County which included all of the unorganized territory in the south and west of the territory. It included the area of the present counties of Barber, Barton, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ford, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Hamilton, Harper, Harvey, Haskell, Hodgeman, Kearney, Kingman, Kiowa, Lane, the southwest corner of Marion, the southern part of McPherson, Meade, Morton, Ness, Pawnee, Pratt, Reno, Rice, Russell, Scott, Sedgwick, Seward, Stafford, Stanton, Stevens, nearly all of Sumner, and Wichita.

The name of Washington was given to a northeastern county in February 1857, leaving the original territory without a name until Peketon County was established in February 1860. Old Washington County was never organized, and there is no evidence that a county seat was ever established.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

August 30, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

Location:

Origin of Name:

Named for John B. Weller (1812-1875), who served at various times as congressman from Ohio, senator from California, and U.S. Minister to Mexico.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

August 25, 1855

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 11, 1859

Location:

Origin of Name:

Named for Henry A. Wise (1806-1876), an outspoken proponent of slavery, congressman from Virginia from 1833 to 1844 and governor of Virginia from 1856 to 1860; one of his last official acts as governor was to sign John Brown's death warrant. He served as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

History:

In 1859, Wise County lost territory to Chase County and gained territory from Davis (now Geary) County. Wise County became Morris County in 1859.

Population:

No Data Available.

Date Established:

Date Organized:

Date Defunct:

February 22, 1883

Location:

Boundaries:

Per the original statute: "Commencing at the intersection of the east line of range 39 west, with the 6th standard parallel; thence south along range line to its intersection with the south boundary of the State of Kansas; thence west along said south boundary line of the State of Kansas to the southwest corner of the State of Kansas; thence north along the western boundary line of the State of Kansas to where it is intersected by the 6th standard parallel; thence east to the place of beginning." Kansas County was swallowed up into Seward County in 1883; the territory today comprises Morton County.

Origin of Name:

Named for the Kansas Indians (also called Kansa or Kaw).

History:

Kansas County was created in 1873, but was never organized. In 1883, Seward County expanded to include Kansas County. The territory was reestablished as Morton County in 1886.

Population: